It's actually a crime that there aren't more video game-themed places to eat at. You've got the new various food cafes nestled inside Universal Studios Japan and that's all that comes to mind for most people. Outside of theme parks, sports-themed bars and pop-ups that quickly end before you get a chance to visit, it's hard out there for a gamer to eat something that respectfully represents their community.
We've got endless video game and food collaborations with franchises like Faze Clan and Doordash, Xbox and Krispy Kreme, Nintendo Hot Sauce, and so many more, but no physical brick and mortar to nerd out while you fill your belly.
Japan created an answer for this with the Capcom Cafe — but thankfully it's not just a pop-up. It's a real deal dining establishment that often rotates its theme based on the property they partner with.
Serving gaming-inspired meals for a little under a decade, the Capcom Cafe a paradise for foodies who are constantly looking for change and gamers who want to literally take a bite out of some of their favorite characters. The café serves as an information hub, provides access to demos of the featured game and immerses fans into a one of a kind dining experience.
In March they completed a "Rockman EXE" (Megaman) collaboration (shown above) which paid a lot of homage to the franchise. The Advanced Collection Cake (#1) is a small dessert platter with cake and ice cream, fresh fruits and decorative swirls. The Metall Omurice (#3) is the most visually striking as it looks just like one of the characters from the game. It's a great use of egg and scallion to illustrate the character's body.
The menu rotates to a new theme monthly to some of the most popular franchises, including Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, and several others. Some past highlights of iconic characters such as the Blank-Chan Omurice (Street Fighter; shown at top) or Okami Chirashi Sushi (Okami; shown below) are some of the incredibly creative ways they've brought their characters to life in the form of food.
With this attention to detail and care for the properties, it's not a surprise that this cafe's been around for so long with no signs of stopping. Any Capcom games you hope they tackle? With their upcoming team-based shooter Exoprimal right around the corner, I'm expecting some dinosaur based cuisine to come from these guys.
You can see what their current collaboration is by heading to the Japanese website where they'll show off the menu and have a calendar of past events and collaborative merchandise to purchase.
